Retired Cumberland County Judge J. Wesley Oler Jr. will tell you he’s probably pretty good at keeping a secret.

View full sizeFormer Cumberland County Judge J. Wesley Oler Jr. has been named as the supervising judge of the Harrisburg-based grand jury.www.pacourts.us

“After twenty years as a trial judge, I don’t have any friends to share a secret with—although, come to think of it, I didn’t have any friends before I was elected either,” he said.

Being able to keep his mouth shut is to his advantage with a new assignment he was handed last month by state Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald Castille.

Oler, 71, is now serving as the supervising judge for the statewide grand jury based in Harrisburg that works at Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s behest, in addition to his work as a senior judge for the Commonwealth Court.

He replaces replaces Judge Barry Feudale, who was removed from the grand jury oversight position last month at Kane’s request after discovering an email Feudale sent to a former top state prosecutor that was critical of both Kane and her predecessor, Linda Kelly.

About Feudale’s replacement, Kane said in an email, “We look forward to working towards justice with Judge Oler. “

Castille said Oler was recommended to him by Justices J. Michael Eakin and Thomas Saylor, both from Cumberland County, who thought Oler would be a good choice.

Eakin knew Oler from Eakin’s days as Cumberland County district attorney. Saylor said he came to know Oler by his reputation and through social occasions and through his opinions that were the subject of appeals that came before Saylor from his days on the state Superior Court.

Saylor recommended Castille consider appointing a senior judge to the position because they have more time to handle the responsibilities that go along with the supervising judge’s job, he said. Oler’s proximity to Harrisburg also was a factor in his selection.

But Saylor said there was one other characteristic about Oler that he thought made him well suited to the post.

“He enjoys a tremendous reputation in terms of intellect and temperament and I think that’s very important for someone who is performing a function like that,” Saylor said.

Eakin was not available for comment.

Oler, who has a Georgetown Law degree, has limited experience working with grand juries in Cumberland County. But Castille said that work can be learned fairly quickly. More importantly, he said Oler comes with plenty of legal experience.

That includes serving almost a decade as a public defender, authoring a book about Pennsylvania criminal law, and spending two decades as a trial judge over criminal and civil cases.

“The assignment represents an opportunity to apply my experience as a lawyer and judge in the area of Pennsylvania criminal law in a state-wide forum, and hopefully, to apply it in a way that is fair to all of the participants and consistent with the law,” Oler said.

Oler began his first week of duty as supervising grand jury judge on July 22.

Because he wanted to let Oler start slow, Castille said he assigned Judge Norman Krumenacker III, who oversees the statewide grand jury in Pittsburgh, to handle oversee the grand jury’s work on the Jerry Sandusky/Penn State administrator cases, including a grand jury leak in the Sandusky case.

In his new role, Oler handles such tasks as instructing the citizens serving on the grand jury of their responsibilities, swearing in witnesses who come before the grand jury, acting on questions that arise about witnesses, and reviewing presentments that recommend charges be filed to ensure they are in the proper form and satisfy legal standards, among other responsibilities.

Considering that much of the grand jury’s work is done so clandestinely, Oler recognizes his ability to keep a secret will prove vital.

“Although many of the duties of a supervising judge are of a housekeeping nature, obviously a high level of confidentiality is important in any investigative process,” Oler said.

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